Guitar stands are used to hold guitars in a variety of situations, such as in store displays, during performances or just to store a guitar outside its cumbersome case while not in use.
Some conventional, free standing guitar stands include a free standing frame having a lower surface for supporting the base of the instrument and an upper neck support for supporting the neck of the instrument. The stand may be placed anywhere in a room, however, this design requires and takes up a considerable amount of floor space. Because these designs take up floor space they may have to be placed in awkward areas and can present a safety hazard by increasing the risk of tripping.
Various conventional portable guitar stands are comprised of several parts. These portable guitar stand must be unpacked and set up for use, then folded up and packed again after use. This tends to make the stands inconvenient to use, because time must be spent setting them up and then taking them down. Further, these designs tend to be less stable, since they must be light weight to be easily moved.
Another alternative to the portable guitar stand comprises a neck cradle which is permanently attached by screws to an amplifier, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,732 to Gallegos. This requires less usable floor space, since the guitar would rest against the floor directly adjacent the amplifier. However, once this guitar stand is mounted to an amplifier, the guitar stand is not easily movable from place to place. Also, since screws are used to mount the stand to the amplifier, installation tends to cause permanent damage to the amplifier to which it is attached. Guitar players may be reluctant to permanently disfigure their expensive amplifier. Furthermore, this type of device typically has multiple parts which makes it difficult to set up and use.
A variation of the above discussed guitar stand, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,633 to Caudill and U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,809 to Harkey, comprises a stand that is clamped to the amplifier by pressing two opposing flanges against the front and back surfaces of the amplifier. However, this clamping device tends to mar the amplifier to which it is attached. Moreover, the clamps could be awkward to handle and require set up and dismantling similar to those of free standing portable guitar stands.
Yet another known portable guitar stand, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,688 to Cuccio, comprises a neck cradle that is inserted into an amplifier jack socket and is supported by the jack socket. However, this stand cannot be used on other fixtures unless they had a similar jack socket. Moreover, the device cannot be used to hold an instrument when the amplifier jack socket is connected to a guitar cord. In addition, applying pressure to the jack socket on the amplifier could result in possible damage to the amplifier circuit or jack socket.